Mears: Together through it all

While many people look at this photo, horrified that the couple jumped from the building during the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centers, this photo signifies so much more than what meets the eye.

Although this picture is not real, it signifies how mankind overcomes adversity together, even in the worst of times. There were eyewitness reports of couples falling together.

When people our age think about love, they think about when they are going to be able to see their significant other or when they will speak to them. Rarely, if ever, will we be faced with, “What would we do if we were in a situation where death was the only option?” For the pictured couple falling, however, it may have been the only thought to cross their minds.

This photo shows the true meaning of love: a bond between people that not even death can tear apart. The couple is falling, because saying they jumped would imply that they had a choice between living and dying, but they didn’t; they could either be burned alive or crushed under all of the ruble. The falling couple decided to fall together, holding hands.

Although the 9/11 attacks were absolutely horrible and wounded our country a great deal, they also united us and brought us closer together. 

Sept. 11, 2001, redefined America. We went from a country of people just going about their lives not really living, just existing. After these terrible attacks, it was as if our country was suddenly wide awake. We saw that we were hurt, that we needed to take action. We needed to spread love to those who were hurt or to those who lost loved ones because of the attacks. We went from being asleep to a nation wide awake, united by a tragedy.